Submitted

Tue, Apr 29th 2014 05:20 pm

Maziarz, Ryan highlight bills to protect taxpayers and the integrity of
the retirement system

State
Sen. George Maziarz, R-Newfane, and Assemblyman Sean Ryan, D-Buffalo, today
announced their joint efforts to advance legislation that would restrict
private lobbyists from obtaining pensions through the New York state and local
retirement system.

A
little-known loophole has allowed employees of certain private advocacy
organizations to access benefits from the statewide retirement system that was
designed and intended solely for public employees. These organizations include
the New York Conference of Mayors, New York State Association of Counties, the
Association of Towns of the State of New York, the New York State Association
of Town Highway Superintendents, the New York State School Boards Association,
and other school board associations.

"Taxpayers
have been footing the bill for these lobbyists' pensions for too long and it
has to stop now," Maziarz said. "These lobbyists may be retained by government
groups for advocacy purposes, but to be clear, they are not public employees
and they are not accountable to the public. Closing this loophole is an
important step forward in strengthening the integrity of the pension system and
easing a financial burden on local governments."

"New
Yorkers are rightfully concerned that well-connected lobbyists are accessing
New York state pension benefits, and the legislature needs to pass reforms to
stop this abuse," Ryan said. "There is clearly a conflict of interest when
these lobbyists set their own salaries, which are often exorbitant, and then
expect the public pension system to pay out retirement benefits. There is
currently no accountability, and it's time for the Assembly and Senate to step
up to the plate and fix this loophole."

Specifically,
S.5935-A (Maziarz)/A. 8212-A (Ryan) would prohibit any new employees of the
aforementioned groups from participating in the state retirement system. Another
bill, S.5936-A (Maziarz)/A. 8211-A (Ryan) would entail the same prohibition but
also go a step further and prevent any current employees of these organizations
from earning any additional retirement service credit immediately.

The
legislators pointed out the organizations affected by their legislative
proposals are not subject to the civil service system, the Freedom of
Information Law, the Open Meetings Law, state financial disclosure
requirements, or other tools that would keep their operations transparent and
accountable to taxpayers. Employees of these organizations set their own
salaries and some of their executive directors make more than $200,000 per year
and get perks such as bonuses and company cars.

Still,
taxpayers are paying for their pensions. In 2013, the retirees of these
organizations were eligible for state retirement benefits totaling almost $2
million.

These
legislative proposals being highlighted today are currently under review in the
Senate Civil Service and Pensions Committee and the Assembly Governmental
Employees Committee.

Maziarz
also announced individuals can sign an online petition in support of the
legislative effort to stop private lobbyists from getting public pensions on
his website, maziarz.nysenate.gov.